September 12, 2008

The 14th annual fall seminar series offered by the UNL's Center for Grassland Studies will feature faculty and guest lecturers on topics ranging from the new farm bill to bioenergy crops. 

The seminars are free and open to the public. They are held most Mondays during the fall semester from 3 to 4 p.m. at UNL's East Union.

The series features Dennis Ojima, this year's Leu Distinguished Lecturer. Ojima is currently a senior scholar with The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, Washington, D.C. He is also a senior research scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University. Ojima's lecture, "Grasslands: Adapting to Global Change," is Sept. 15. His visit to UNL is made possible by a gift from the Frank and Margaret Leu family to the University of Nebraska Foundation.

Videos of the seminars will be available for checkout from the Center for Grassland Studies. For more information, contact the center at (402) 472-4101, e-mail grassland@unl.edu, or visit http://www.grassland.unl.edu.

• Sept. 15 — Dennis Ojima, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, Washington, D.C., "Grasslands: Adapting to Global Change"
• Sept. 22 — Steve Chick, Nebraska Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Impact of the New Farm Bill on Grasslands, Wildlife and the Environment"
• Sept. 29 — Ian Chivers, principal and chief executive of Native Seeds Pty. Ltd., Victoria, Australia, "Amenity Grasses of Australia"

• Oct. 6 — No seminar
• Oct. 13 — Jim Locklear, Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, "The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum and the Evolution of a Nebraska Style of Landscape Horticulture"
• Oct. 20 — No seminar (semester break)
• Oct. 27 — Bruce Anderson and Walter Schacht, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, UNL, "Observations on Chinese Grasslands"

• Nov. 3 — Mace Hack, Nebraska chapter, The Nature Conservancy, "The Nature Conservancy's Grassland Conservation in Nebraska"
• Nov. 10 — Jeff Drahota, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "Forage Quality for the Rainwater Basin Wetlands"
• Nov. 17 — Tom Bragg, Department of Biology, University of Nebraska-Omaha, "Savanah Ecology and Management in Western Australia
• Nov. 24 — Ken Vogel, USDA Agricultural Research Service, "Current Status of Switchgrass as a Bioenergy Crop"

• Dec. 1 — Sandra Schaeffer, graduate student, Department of Entomology, UNL, "Molecular Insight into Buffalograss Resistance to Chinch Bugs"
• Dec. 8 — Matt Giovanni, graduate student, School of Natural Resources, UNL, "Birds and Plants in the Nebraska Sandhills: Interactions and Conservation"

The above schedule is subject to revision. Changes will be noted on the Fall 2008 seminar listing on the Center's web site, www.grassland.unl.edu.

IANR News Release